January 14, 2021 I’ve just finished “Madame Bovary.” Some of it was slow going, specifically the passages of excessive detail about physical objects and surroundings. But after finishing the novel, I read in Soledad Fox’s “Flaubert and Don Quijote” that Flaubert used all this detail to satirize the “realist” genre: that’s why he describes the … Continue reading Madame Bovary
Category: Don Quixote
The Female Quixote
December 31, 2020 I’ve read Charlotte Lennox's “The Female Quixote” (Kwicksoht), and I struggled through much of the first half, but the effort was well worth it. I flew through the last 100 pages. Lennox’s novel was inspired by Cervantes and later inspired Austen, two authors I’ve recently discovered, so I really wanted to read … Continue reading The Female Quixote
Arabella
November 17, 2020 It’s often said that “Northanger Abbey” is similar to “Don Quixote.” I would think that Austen read Cervantes, but I’m just finding out about a 1752 novel called “The Female Quixote; or, the Adventures of Arabella,” by Charlotte Lennox, that Austen read and even praised in an 1807 letter. https://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/the-influence-of-the-female-quixote-on-northanger-abbey/ This is … Continue reading Arabella
Starting Pride and Prejudice
October 22, 2020 I'm 20 chapters into "Pride and Prejudice." Last spring when we went into quarantine, I ordered a Jane Austen Complete Works, having revisited the 1995 mini-series a few weeks before. I read several chapters, including Lizzie’s three marriage proposal scenes and her final confrontation with Lady de Bourgh. I’m going to read … Continue reading Starting Pride and Prejudice
Cervantes y su caballero
October 21, 2020 All throughout my reading of "Don Quixote," I was struggling with the question of what Cervantes meant when he wrote "caballero," which in English means "knight." It's not a simple problem, because “caballero” means knight but it also means gentleman. It has a double meaning, and is potentially a source of confusion. … Continue reading Cervantes y su caballero
Sancho Panza, cosmologist
October 20, 2020 A few notes on cosmology in "Don Quixote", but I'll let Sancho have the last word. In Vol. I, ch. 20, Burton Raffel's translation speaks of “the fearful sound of that water we have come searching for, which seems to smash down and hurl itself from the lofty mountains of the Moon”. … Continue reading Sancho Panza, cosmologist
El Quijote, animated
October 18, 2020 There’s a 1979 animated version of “Don Quixote,” parts of which I showed the kids yesterday, translating for them as we watched. They actually liked it, despite the pace, which is glacial compared to anything today. But it felt just right, just like the book. And in Spanish, in the clips uploaded … Continue reading El Quijote, animated
Don Quixote’s Profession
October 17, 2020 I’ve finished Mark van Doren’s slim volume, “Don Quixote’s Profession.” Someday I must read “Don Quixote” again with van Doren’s idea that DQ was acting, and with Nabokov’s idea that DQ had many victories. These were not things that I appreciated in my own reading. The idea that DQ was acting barely … Continue reading Don Quixote’s Profession
Thug Notes on DQ
October 16, 2020 Now here’s a review of “Don Quixote” that seems to get the spirit of the book, taking it seriously without being serious. Showed it to the kids and Dess last night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVkzxDJo9-Y
Nabokov’s Don Quixote
October 15, 2020 Vladimir Nabokov is a crank, in his “Lectures On Don Quixote.” He’s practically lost me with his declaration that the character of Sancho Panza is just a “generalized clown” and that he’s not funny. Again, I wonder if the problem is with the edition that Nabokov read, but he certainly read the … Continue reading Nabokov’s Don Quixote